A Grand Review of the Army of the Potomac on Nov. 20, 1861 Left One New Yorker in the Mud and Another Inspired

Civil War Sesquicentennial

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The Grand Review of the Union Army on Nov. 20, 1861

SARATOGA SPRINGS, NY (11/17/2011)(readMedia)-- The Grand Review of the Union Army of the Potomac on Nov. 20, 1861 was a very big deal. But for Lieutenant Albert M. Barney of the 16th New York Volunteer Infantry, a regiment from New York's North Country, it meant a lot of marching and a lot of standing in mud.

"Our regiment marched six miles to the reviewing ground with knapsacks, twenty rounds of ball cartridges, haversacks, with dinner and canteens with water, " Barney told his sister in a letter. "After arriving, we stood in the mud ankle deep for over two hours, waiting for the balance of the forces to take their positions."

The Grand Review, held at Baily's Crossroad, Virginia, was designed to give President Abraham Lincoln, as well as the rich and famous of the north, an opportunity to look at the Army General George McClellan had assembled to subdue the Confederacy.

Fifty-five New York Regiments took part in the Grand Review that day, including the 16th New York Volunteer Infantry.

1861 had not been a good year for the Union troops assembled around Washington. The Army had been defeated at the Battle of Bull Run in July and a small action at Balls Bluff in October had ended in a disaster, with Union troops drowning as they tried to retreat back across the Potomac River. New York regiments had been in the thick of both fights and had done both well and poorly.

McClellan, a retired Army officer prior to the Civil War, had done well leading the invasion of western Virginia from Ohio and won a series of battles in that Union-friendly part of the state. Following the disaster at Bull Run he was asked to come to Washington and take charge of troops in the Washington area. He organized them into the Army of the Potomac and began training the raw recruits from New York and other states.

McClellan would later prove to be a so-so general, moving slowly and missing opportunities, but he was an excellent trainer and organizer and the Grand Review was his chance to show what he had done.

On the cold morning of Nov. 20, the Union Soldiers from seven divisions camped around Washington began moving to the review site.

Around 20,000 to 30,000 spectators gathered to watch 70,000 Soldiers form a semi-circle formation four miles long.

"As no passes were required it was free to everyone who could procure a conveyance, or who chose to walk, the distance being about eight miles by the route which they were obliged to take. The roads were guarded the entire distance, so that civilians without written permission could not diverge from the prescribed limits of travel, "the New York Times wrote at the time.

At the start of the ceremony, fifteen batteries fired a salute and then McClellan, along with President Lincoln, Secretary of War Simon Cameron, and Secretary of State William H. Seward, "all on horseback, rode rapidly along the line, meeting with continuous and enthusiastic cheers from the soldiers," the New York Times said.

"We stood at 'attention' while the President and General McClellan and his staff made the rounds of the entire force, and it was no small task to ride past seventy thousand men in line of battle, " Barney wrote in his letter. " After that we waited for about half the number to pass, before our turn came to march by the reviewing stand, from which we made a circuit of two miles, to reach the road which led to our camp, and when we reached it, all felt we had performed a hard day's work. "

"The grand review, which you of course have read of, was a truly grand affair, and must have been a splendid scene to look upon for those who took no part in the parade; for there is really hard work in such ceremonies, "he wrote.

One of those who saw the "truly grand affair" was New Yorker Julia Ward Howe. As she watched some Soldiers marched into line singing the popular song "John Brown's Body". The song, about the anti-slavery activist who was hung for treason by the state of Virginia after attacking the armory at Harper's Ferry in 1859 to collect weapons to arm freed slaves, included the line "John Brown's body lies a moldering in his grave, but we go marching on".

Howe liked the tune – the words were set to music used at religious camp meetings-but decided the music needed more inspiring words.

Later she would write the "Battle Hymn of The Republic", set to the John Brown Song's music. The lines in the song-such as, "I have seen his righteous anger writ in burnished rows of steel"-were inspired by the Grand Review.

More than 500,000 New Yorkers enlisted in the Army and Navy during the four years of the Civil War and 53,114 New Yorkers died.

Throughout the period of the Civil War Sesquicentennial observance, the New York State Division of Military and Naval Affairs will produce short articles about New York's Civil War experience researched by the New York State Military Museum in Saratoga Springs.

For more information, go the NewYork State Military Museum Civil War Timeline Website at http://dmna.state.ny.us/civilwar